Table of contents
Prologue: The Kavenya.
Fourteen-year-old Shmi Skywalker's merchant family is attacked by pirates. Her parents and siblings are killed, and she is taken into slavery by men whose language she barely understands.

Chapter One: Akris
One the world of Zhemess, Shmi is sold to a humanoid merchant named Akris, who has been exiled from his tribe on Tatooine and has been promised by a seer that Shmi will help him make enough money to buy his way back in.

Chapter Two: The Hooded Woman
Part One
Akris sends Shmi to the Magorhaz, where the Zhemess priestesses make their home, and she is subjected to a rant about many things from Telpi. She also meets a hooded woman who is under the protection of the Magorhaz, who appears abruptly and puts Shmi under the same protection.